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Assessment Lesson

Your Driving Test - what will be required of you

Your driving test will last for approximately 40 minutes.  You'll need to bring your provisional licence and theory pass certificate with you in order for your test to go ahead. 

Your test will take the following format:

Eyesight Test

You will need to demonstrate that you can read a car number plate from 20 meters away. 

Tell Me Question

You can find these HERE

This under the bonnet GUIDE will help you revise some of the tell me questions.

Independent Drive

You will need to either follow the sat nav or directional signs for approximately 20 minutes.

You can find the DVSA guidance on this HERE

Remember this is a test of your ability to drive safely whilst driving completely independently, it is not a test of your ability to follow directions. 

Taking a wrong turn or missing a direction will not result in a fault or test fail, providing you do so safely.

Show Me Question

You can find these HERE

Manoeuvres

You will need to be able to carry out one of the following 4 driving test manoeuvres,

Forward Bay Park
Reverse Bay Park
Parallel Park
Pull up on the right and reverse 2 to 3 car spaces

Emergency Stop

One in 5 tests will also be asked to carry out an emergency stop.

Lesson 1: 09/10/2022
My Highlights
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  • Your positioning improved hugely throughout your lesson, you achieved this by raising your line of vision and looking where you wanted to steer the car
  • Your speed hugely improved throughout your lesson.  You're now driving at an appropriate speed for the road on most occasions
  • Your gear changes are smoother and more accurate.  You achieved this by allowing the gear stick to travel through neutral before selecting the gear you wanted
  • Your steering hugely improved and you are now using your hands independently of each other
  • Your use of the central mirror has hugely improved and you're starting to consider the traffic behind you
  • When pulling up on the left you were getting too close to the kerb, this has hugely improved
My Development Areas
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  • Your road position is sometimes too close to the left, particularly when passing parked cars, in narrower spaces
  • All manoeuvres need work on both positioning and speed
  • At roundabouts you're struggling to identify gaps in the traffic which means you miss opportunities to go.  This impacts the following drivers
  • Sometimes your approach speed to junctions is a little fast, this means you struggle to complete tasks such as changing down gears in the time you've given yourself
  • Currently there's limited use of your right or left side mirrors
  • Your hill start isn't completely established and I suspect will need some work on steeper hills
  • When you're under pressure your decision making skills can become compromised
  • When pulling over at the side of the road you struggle to always know where you're positioning your car.  This means you're in danger of hitting the kerb at times

Additional points

I think it's important to note that we're yet to look at the more complex routes around the test centre, these involve driving competencies such as multi lane roundabouts, dual carriageways, country lanes and many other driving competencies.  I'm therefore unable to evaluate your driving against these areas.

Recommendations

I don't think a test on 1st November is unrealistic however it will require additional hours to get to the required standard.

To get you ready for a test on 1st November I feel you need a minimum of 2 extra 4 hour intensive lessons (8 hours in total) on top of the lessons booked plus private practice.  I'm happy to support private practice with online progress logs from your lessons and suggested exercises.  I could pop these extra lessons into the following slots

Sunday Oct 16th 13:00 - 17:00
Sunday Oct 23rd 15:00 - 19:00

I'd also recommend moving your lesson on Monday 24th October to 16:00 - 20:00 as this will give us the opportunity to both work on your driving at busier periods and use the test centre car park for manoeuvres once tests have finished for the day.

I'd recommend on our next lesson on we focus on roundabouts, mirror use and pull up on the left, in addition to anything we identify on the day.

Recommendations before your next intensive lesson

If you're able to practice before your next lesson I'd recommend focusing on the following:

Pulling up on the left and moving off again

You'll typically be asked to do this several times on your driving test.  Before you pull up at the side of the road you need to make sure it's safe to do so.  You can do this by checking your centre mirror to check for following vehicles and your left side mirror to look for anything to the side of your car.  You then need to apply a left indicator to let everyone know you intend to move over.

You will then be asked to pull off again, have a look at the following LINK which will explain each step of the move off process.

Manoeuvres

I'd recommend going to a quiet carpark and work on using your clutch to slowly drive your car forward into a bay.  Think of entering the bay at a right angle to your approach.  The slower you do this the easier you'll find it. 

Once you're happy with this try reversing your car from the bay it's in, to the bay behind you and one over to the left, the diagram below should help.  This exercise will help you perfect both your speed and steering accuracy.

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Charges

I charge £200 per intensive lesson including any online support and practice suggestions to help your private practice in between session.  The total cost will be £400 for the additional lessons.

All fees are payable in advance, via bank transfer, and lessons will only be booked in once payment has been received.  Lessons are non refundable if cancelled within 48 hours of their start date/time.  Any courses cancelled more than 48 hours in advance or due to a national lockdown or local restrictions are fully refundable

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